Why does the sun not travel exactly 15 degrees per hour? I don’t know. Apparently, at the winter solstice it travels slower than 15 degrees per hour. It must have something to do with the tilt of the earth.
The sun travels 15 degrees along its circle each hour. Its circle doesnt line up with the circle of your horizon though(unless you are at either pole on the equinoxes). The sun's horizontal rate of change thus varies considerably with time of day, your latitude and the sun's. You can estimate this a bit but to be precise you'd have to do the 3d geometry to compare the two superimposed circles... I don't know the exact equation. To be REALLY precise you also have to take into account that our orbit isnt a perfect circle, and that our spherical atmosphere adds some refraction. I'm probably missing something too. Navigating exactly based on the sun is complex... despite most cultures evolving some sort of boats, it took until ~1800 to figure out how to navigate well offshore with only heavenly bodies as reference. Fortunately for us... onshore and with unchanging longitude, our task is much simpler.
Theres a few more simple tricks you can use: at solar 6am the sun is almost exactly due east(but may be below the horizon) and likewise its west at solar 6pm. In low latitude summer the noon sun may actually be to your north even in the northern hemisphere, but at low latitudes it will be spending the vast majority of the day near due east-west, so you are not relying on noon position as much. You can also treat other bodies on the same plane(most obviously the moon and orion) similarly, and thus keep oriented on some nights(all cloud free nights if you know enough planets/stars).
This has been a very good thread.
As for getting ones compass bearings.
When it is High Noon, your shadow ( I use my trekking pole)
will lay to the north.
Maybe not true north. But as north as you need to know.
Of course: All this depends on seeing the sun.
Not always doable here in the PNW
Live every day like you will die to-marrow.
For some day that will be true.
RumiDude
Live every day like you will die to-marrow.
For some day that will be true.
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